


Lovers Dance

by dragonsav



Series: Together, Through a Thousand Stars [1]
Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Budding Relationship, Comfort, Dancing, Evfra takes a bullet for ryder and things get complicated, F/M, fluff?, idk what else to tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-06
Updated: 2017-07-06
Packaged: 2018-11-28 17:36:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11422836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonsav/pseuds/dragonsav
Summary: While on a simple solo mission on Voeld, Evfra runs into Sara Ryder, whose presence turns the assignment into anything but.





	Lovers Dance

Sitting in a dark cave while a blizzard raged outside, with a human bandaging his wounds was not exactly what Evfra had envisioned when he came to Voeld.    
   
Evfra had been doing some reconnaissance on the smaller camps of kett littering the planet since he had been left with less paperwork and more time on his hands after the defeat of the Archon.    
Sara was there because the outpost on voeld was having some problems. She had met Evfra purely by coincidence, which she was convinced soured his mood even more, she had run into a camp of Kett and had literally run into him. bumped into him and everything. Jaal was pleasantly surprised to see Evfra there, and questioned why he was alone to which the resistance leader responded that he worked better solo. Sara had suggested her little team lend him a hand, at which Evfra declined but Sara was almost as stubborn as he was and insisted.    
   
Evfra was too tired to argue and relented, which led to him being shoved into the nomad's passenger seat, listening to the conversations that he was surprised Sara was not apart of. Jaal and the second human, Cora, were talking about something that Evfra didn't care to pay attention to. Somehow the topic veered towards family and Jaal began gushing about Sara's brother, who he had begun a relationship with. Evfra was slightly surprised though he didn't let it show on his face, the way Jaal spoke to him of the Pathfinder made it seem like his feelings were for her, but he supposed feelings could change.    
   
After all, his own feelings for the Pathfinder had changed. While he had always held her at arms length, his attitude had changed from distrust, to only mild annoyance. In truth, the pathfinder was good company and she was dependable, but he would never say that to her face. He found himself fond of the woman, despite her annoyingly chipper optimism, and whenever she docked on Aya he looked forward to her visits. But then he would feel foolish and would block off his feelings by acting standoffish and pushing people away with his crass attitude. He begrudgingly accepted the fact that maybe this alien had wormed her way past his defenses, and... perhaps he had begun to feel... something akin to caring for her.    
   
About a mile or two away from the navpoint Evfra had given her, Sara stopped the nomad, the blizzard having gotten too bad to drive. Her voice had ceased all the chatter from the two "I guess we can walk from here... we should be careful though, a lot of mountains in this area. Perfect for an ambush..." Evfra made a noise of agreement, and they both exited the vehicle, followed by Jaal and Cora. Sara sent the coordinates of the nomad to the tempest for extraction and then they set off.    
   
They were passing between two towering mountains when the ambush came. Kett swarmed them from both sides and they were effectively trapped. It didn't help that the blizzard was becoming worse, and Cora and Jaal became separated from Sara and Evfra. Sara finally decided it was time to pull back when Evfra had shoved himself between her and one of the kett to shield her from a blow to her back. The attack shattered his shields and he managed to block the following melee attack, but not before one of the Destined fired at him. The automatic rounds tore into Evfra's arm, shoulder, and part of his back, spattering the Sara and the snow in blue.   
   
 Sara screamed something that he was sure sounded like his name, throwing up a biotic shield and keeping him behind her, bullets ricocheting off of the shield and into the kett surrounding them. Sara pushed Evfra to move, turning her back wasn't a good idea, but what other choice did she have? She barely registered the pain that shot up her leg, terrifying images flashing in her head of blood soaked hands and a voice pleading for her to stay...    
 Thankfully the blizzard gave them the cover they needed to escape the ambush. Sara ignored Evfra's protests that he could walk dammit, but Sara didn't care. She was practically fuming that he took that hit for her, her shields would have held, why did he do that?! he could have... no, no she wasn't going to do that. She wasn't going to dwell on the past.    
   
She couldn't see where she was going, and Evfra was dangerously quiet. she kept a hand on his chest, she needed to be sure he was still breathing. She stumbled downhill nearly dropping Evfra in the process, his knees buckling under him, but her grip on him was vice like. He said something that she didn't catch.   
   
 She refused to let this happen again, not here, Andromeda was supposed to be a new start. She squinted through the snow and wind, spotting a cave on the side of the mountain, she began moving again.    
   
Once inside the cave she sat him down in a corner, glaring daggers at him, cursing when her voice came out as uneven and shaky.   
   
 "That was so incredibly stupid and reckless, I cannot believe that you did it."   
   
 Evfra grunted, trying to sit up straighter, but he didn't comment. It was unusually out of character for him to not have some sort of snarky quip, she was almost puzzled, but her anger coupled with the fear that she felt when she felt the blood splatter on her face was... crippling. She huffed and grabbed her first aid kit from a small pouch on her side, gingerly taking his arm and checking for any bullets. Luckily there was no excessive bleeding, then again Sara wasn't sure the arteries that humans had were located in the same place in the angara. Evfra was quietly staring at her as she tentatively applied the medi-gel, taking note of the light tremble in her hands.    
   
Truthfully, he wasn't sure why he jumped in front of her... perhaps it had something to do with when his own family was killed. He was careless and allowed himself to care, to feel for her. In his foolishness he saw a person he cared for in danger and acted without thinking. His frown deepened, eyes roaming over her face.    
   
She was crying.    
   
He may not have noticed if there hadn't been blood on her face, but she was indeed crying. He wondered for a moment, why? Without thinking, he reached up with his hand, brushing away her tears with his thumb. She paused in wrapping his arm in bandages, her green eyes flickering up to his face.    
   
Later, he would look back on this moment and say he was delirious from blood loss, but right now she was looking at him, and his thumb still lingered on her cheek. Realizing his mistake, he dropped his hand and looked away from her, throwing his walls back up around his emotions. He forced his voice to be gruff and sharp, ignoring the painful feeling that he felt blossom in his chest. "I hardly think you are one to talk about being 'reckless' and 'stupid."    
   
He did not see the hurt look on her features, and instead of a sarcastic comment as he was expecting, her voice was soft and holding almost too much emotion for his liking. "You really scared me."   
   
 His heart threatened to jump into his mouth and spew what he was feeling, he immediately regretted what he said, but he didn't dare speak for fear of his own emotions betraying him. Instead he deepened his scowl. She sighed, shaking her head and applying a bit of medi-gel to one of the deeper wounds on his shoulder. He hissed, jerking away from her, and shooting a scathing glare her way. "Do you even know what you're doing??"    
   
She clenched her jaw, glaring right back at him. "yes. I do."   
   
 She looked down, a faraway look in her eyes as she resumed patching him up. Evfra had seen enough traumatized warriors to know when there was history behind a short answer, he saw her shaking hand wipe the blood spatter from her face as she finished bandaging his wounds, and wondered if this was not the first time someone had taken a bullet for her, or many bullets in this case. Evfra sighed, the pain lacing up and down his arm as he tried to move was merely uncomfortable now, he looked back at her as she put away the first aid kit, tucking it back into the pouch at her hip and sitting back against the wall of the cave, the blizzard still raging outside.    
   
With the adrenaline dying in her system, Sara could feel the cold leeching into her bones, her biosuit was heated, but it was hardly doing her any good in the harsh cold. She tiredly undid the clasps of her heavy chest piece in an attempt to get more comfortable, tracing the scratched and gouges on the worn metal.    
   
"you have seen more battles than you lead others to believe."    
   
It was a flat statement, but Sara nodded nonetheless, running her thumb over a chip on the side of the metal plating. "Yeah..."  Evfra waited, seeing if she would continue. She glanced at him, seemingly gauging whether she should speak or not. She sighed softly, shaking her head and setting her chest plate aside.    
   
"Back in the Milky Way, on one of my first missions as an N7 we were protecting a Prothean digging site in the attican traverse, rough place lots of slavers and pirates. We were on a planet that was almost entirely sand and rock. Not so different from Elaaden I suppose..."  she glanced down at his wounded shoulder, shaking her head.    
   
"We were transporting supplies to the digging site when we were attacked by slavers. My unit was captured and our commanding officer was... well he didn’t make it home. After a few days of captivity we broke out and took over the slavers ship. 17 soldiers in my unit and only three survived the fight, including myself. The other two died of their wounds once we reached an Alliance outpost. One of them was my best friend, and he was hurt because some Vorcha jumped at me and he pushed me out of the way... "   
   
 She pressed the heel of her hands to her eyes, setting her elbows on her knees; an action that Evfra had observed her do before, usually in an attempt to stop her from crying. He didn't know how to comfort her, so he just listened.    
   
"tore his throat out. He didn’t even make it to the hospital," She took a deep breath, running her hand down her face. "Anyway, I died with his blood on my hands and... well I guess seeing you do that back there was like reliving that moment."    
   
 "That is why you were scared." He said, the edge that usually accompanied his words gone.    
   
Sara shrugged, chewing on the inside of her cheek. "I've just seen too many people die in front of me for you to be one of them..." She looked at him with a soft sort of fondness in her eyes that Evfra didn't quite understand, but he recognized it; he had seen it in the lovestruck soldiers he had seen running around with their partners in the resistance headquarters, in the couples that cultivated after the war, the young teenagers that shot glances at each other from across the market, in Jaal when he spoke of Scott.   
   
It was something that he had accepted he would never see directed at himself. He just wasn't meant for that, he didn't deserve it. She gave him a gentle smile, and he almost said something before their comms crackled to life.    
   
_"Sara? Dammit, jaal it's not working!"_    
   
_"Yes, it is, the red light is on!"_    
   
Sara let out a relieved sigh. "Cora, Jaal, you two are safe?"    
   
She briefly heard Jaal whisper a smug 'I told you so' before Cora spoke. _"Yeah, we got away with a few scratches, but nothing major."_    
   
Jaal spoke up, concern lacing his voice. _"Is Evfra with you?"_    
   
Sara shot Evfra's wounded shoulder an offending look. "Yeah, the grumpy one is with me. I wish I could say we weren't hurt either but I'd be lying."    
   
Evfra scoffed, rolling his eyes, the soft moment between them dissipating. She wasn't going to let it go was she?     
   
Cora's response was immediate. _"How bad are your wounds?"_    
   
It was clear she wasn't speaking to Evfra. Now it was Sara's turn to scoff, Evfra letting out a soft uncharacteristic chuckle. he couldn’t help it, the Pathfinder obviously didn't have a reputation for responsibility.    
   
"Why is it you assume that I am the injured one," She whined. "anyway, I'M fine. Evfra however is not in any condition to fight."    
   
"I hardly doubt that you are the person who determines that." Evfra growled, his sour attitude returning.  Sara glared at him and to make her point she lifted his injured arm.    
   
He made a strangled noise, pain shooting up his shoulder and neck, snarling between clenched teeth. "Fine, you've made your point."    
   
Cora and Jaal were both silent, either shocked that Evfra didn't murder Ryder right there or that she wasn't dead before they called.    
   
Sara gave him a smug look, turning back to her omnitool. "My connection to SAM is offline, how are you guys talking to us?"    
   
_"we had the tempest drop the nomad back down and I overcharged Cora's omnitool with the battery from  so that it emits a pulse that can reach about a 100 miles in any direction, it will only last a few minutes though."_ Jaal said, sounding proud of himself.    
   
_"We won't be able to find you guys in this blizzard, so you two should get comfortable. You two could be stuck a while."_ Cora said matter-of-factly.    
   
Sara and Evfra exchanged a look, but neither of them held the others gaze for long. "Yeah. Alright." She said, sighing softly. "Alright. We won't kill each other, don't worry."    
   
_"Good, because—"_ the connection cut out with a screech of static, and they both winced, Sara quickly shutting off her omnitool.    
   
Evfra glanced down at her, red catching his eye on the cave floor. He followed to trail of drips to where she sat and saw the gash in her armor, looking at her, eyebrows raised. "you're bleeding."    
   
Sara glanced down at her thigh and cursed. "Fuck, yeah I guess I am." Pulling the first aid kit out once again she quickly bandaged the small wound, shaking her head. Tucking the kit away again she hoisted herself to her feet and began moving around, in no particular manner, Evfra noted. He watched for a moment as she shook out her hands. "What are you doing."    
   
Sara glanced at him, rolling her shoulders. "If I keep moving, it keeps my blood flowing, makes me warmer."     
   
Evfra shrugged, leaning his head back and letting his eyes shut.    
   
There was nothing but silence until he heard her soft humming. He cracked an eye open, watching as she twirled around, her hair undone from the braid he had typically seen it in. It took him a second to realize she was dancing.    
   
Her eyes were shut and the tune she was humming as gentle and soft. Her steps were practiced and familiar, yet he felt odd... like he was seeing something that he shouldn't be. She was... almost ethereal, and he couldn't believe that he was beginning to feel something for her. She was... so out of his reach, and yet as she opened her eyes, he felt entranced. She shot him a smirk, raising an eyebrow quizzically.    
   
"you ever dance, Evfra?"    
   
"once. It was a terrible experience." He said flatly, though she had successfully caught his attention, and he was a little more than interested. "the tune you are humming... what is it?"    
   
Sara sighed. "An old song... my mother loved it." continuing her swirling dance, slowly coming to a stop in front of him, looking back down at him and holding out her hand to him. "C'mon, get up."    
   
Evfra looked at her, eyebrow raised, glancing at her hand and then back at her face. "Excuse me?" Sara kept her hand outstretched, shrugging her shoulders. "You said the last time you danced it was terrible." She suddenly looked bashful, but her hand remained out to him. "So... let me show you it's not all bad."    
   
Evfra eyed her hand, and to Sara's surprise, stood up from his spot. "I hope It does not involved much use of my arms, I may disappoint."    
   
She grinned, and his heart did a flip. "You, General De Tershaav? Never." taking the hand on his uninjured arm, she pulled him away from the wall. "Don't worry, while we humans have many different dances, I figured we start simple and easy. It's a traditional dance, and it's mostly used during slow songs, or by couples." She paused for a second, her eyes widening at what she said. She quickly recovered, giving a nervous laugh; had she been an angara Evfra would have been able to feel her anxiety through her bioelectric field, but she wasn't so he had to gauge on the pitch of her vocal chords.    
"But it's easy to do and there's no way you could mess up on it... er... well you could mess up on it, but its hard to do unless you deliberately try to and—I'm rambling. Sorry."   
   
 Evfra chose to remain silent, it was quite amusing to watch her stumble with her words, during most of their interactions she had been sarcastic but always remained poised and professional. He simply looked at her with a waiting expression. "Well? If you insist on teaching me, show me how it's done."    
   
Sara straightened, resuming a professional demeanor. "Right, well give me your right hand, and put your left on my waist..." She trailed off, hesitant to take his left hand. He paused too, what was he doing? He was a general, not some... lovestruck... fool. Oh wait, that's exactly what he was. He gave her his hand, holding her gaze in his, a silent confirmation to continue.    
   
   
Encouraged, she tightened her grip on his hand and brought it to her waist, just above her hip bone. She stepped closer to him, still holding his gaze. "now, I step back and you step forward, following my lead." She did as she said, Evfra tentatively followed, She smiled. "Good, now to the left," she moved and Evfra again mimicked her. "Awesome, now you step back and I step forward, and we repeat." It was slow and awkward as they started, but they slowly got the hang of it and before she knew it, Evfra was leading. Still as careful as he was in everything, and sara found herself humming again, Slow and soft.    
   
she looked up at him, his eyes watching their hands, his features relaxed and easier to read. It was a rare moment, and she was finally able to drink in his features without his trademark scowl. She hadn't realized the white freckles scattered upon his skin; like tiny stars, she thought. Staring up at him, she wondered; what was she doing? What was this? She hadn't expected to find herself in this situation, much less dancing with the leader of the resistance.    
There was something about him that drew her in, he was stubborn and terrifying, but she was ever so slowly picking her way through the thorny exterior he wore. A warm feeling had started to take root in her chest, as they slowed their dance, coming to a slow stop. Sara was  suddenly very aware that she had been staring, her eyes flickering up to meet his own, gaze fixed on her.    
   
He wore an unreadable expression, and then as if it never happened, or they both realized just what they were doing; she took a step back from him as he let his hands fall from her. She cleared her throat, folding her arms and trying to contain the mountain of feelings that came crashing down on her.    
   
"see, you can dance after all."    
   
Evfra tilted his head slightly, still watching her. "I never said I couldn't." His voice held a sort of smug undertone, and it made Sara's stomach flip anxiously. She fought to control her expression, settling for her usual carefree attitude. "very true."    
   
in an attempt to change conversation, she glanced out to the entrance of the cave, the blizzard having calmed down to a slow snowfall. A familiar, gentle pressure returned to her consciousness and SAM's voice echoed over their private channel. She set her hands on her hips, flicking on her omnitool. "Well, SAM is back." She turned on her comm, a soft crackle of static before it stabilized and she heard Jaal and Peebee talking.    
   
_"— oh, c'mon. You would know right? You're like his best friend or something. She's not very subtle, she obviously likes him, and honestly with that scowl you can't really tell what he's feeling. "_    
   
_"Ah, i do not think that is the term he would use, and It is not my business who he decides to... spend time with. Besides, Liam said that– "_    
   
_"I highly doubt that he's a credible source. He walks around Aya with all the stealth of a drunken krogan. No way he's seen them together like that."_    
   
Sara felt her heart rate spike, her crew chose the perfect time to gossip didn't they? She had a dangerous feeling that they weren't just talking about some random couple either. She glanced back at Evfra quickly, who had turned to stare at the omnitool quizzically, glancing back at her with a questioning gaze. Sara shrugged, feigning ignorance when infact she knew exactly what they were talking about. She had been oddly excited to talk to Evfra the last time they docked on Aya and she wasn't surprised that the crew picked up on it, no doubt they already had a betting pool started... the thought made her cringe, and SAM was thankfully silent, but she could feel the AI's curiosity grow; she would have to explain herself later.    
   
   
_"in my experience Krogan are not stealthy at all."_    
   
_"That's the point. It's kind of ironic, actually. It's like one of those bad romance vids, trapped and forced to face their undying feelings for each other—"_    
   
Sara chose this moment to speak up, anything to just get them to shut the fuck up. "Hey you guys, nice to hear from you."     
   
She heard Cora laugh, Jaal and Peebee falling silent.    
   
_"What exactly did you hear?"_ Peebee said, with a lilt of humor to her voice.    
   
Sara cleared her throat, feeling awkward and refusing to acknowledge the question. "where are you guys at? I think I can send our navpoint..." She fussed around with the mapping system, successfully sending the location of the cave as Cora replied.    
   
_"We're just leaving the resistance base, Commader Do Xeel was kind of alarmed when she learned that we had been separated so we gave her a rough report of what happened. Nav point received, we'll be there soon."_    
   
"Good to hear, lieutenant. Signing off."    
   
with that she shut her omnitool off and walked over to where she had placed her chest piece, piciking it up and putting it back on. Leave it to her crew to out her like that, it was pure shit luck. She honestly didn't want to voice her feelings just yet but... well it was difficult when her relationships— hypothetical as they may be —  seemed to be the popular topic of conversation in her little misfit family. She ignored the questioning gaze from the angara with her, it was obvious she didn't want to address it.    
   
"Sara."    
   
she faltered, slowly tightening the strap on her chest piece. She turned back to him, trying to hide the shock on her face. It was always 'Pathfinder' or 'Ryder' said with a scowl and a touch of annoyance. But now... his voice was, dare she say, soft. Her voice was dangerously quiet when she spoke, hoping she didn't look too much like a startled deer ready to bolt.    
   
"Yes...?"    
   
He had stepped closer to her, close enough to let his hand come up to brush against her cheek, but far enough away to let her move away if she wanted.    
   
She didn't. She turned her head, leaning into his touch, dropping her gaze to the floor. He took a step towards her, closing the distance between them, but hesitated. His eyes searched her face for a sign, anything to tell him that she didn't feel this... annoying fondness towards him. He brushed the flush to her cheeks off as the cold, but now he wasn't so sure.   
   
"Sara..." He said again, her name on his tongue like a whispered prayer. She looked up at him again, uncertainty and doubt in her eyes, she wanted so badly to just... touch him. Count the stars on  his skin and kiss every scar. She nearly stepped away from him, there was no way he would allow that; this wasn't a good idea, she kept telling herself.    
   
Evfra moved then, leaning down and pressing his lips softly against hers. The kiss was soft, chaste and questioning. A soft tingle of electricity scattered over her lips, adding to the nervous flutter of her stomach. Sara was shocked, and it showed on her face. It lasted only a few seconds, and then he was pulling away from her. Sara immediately missed the contact, but he didn’t step back.    
   
The rumbling sound of a familiar vehicle approaching made them both freeze, whatever was going on between them was going to end very soon. Feeling brave, and using his surprise to her advantage, she pulled him back down to her and kissed him. She felt his stiffen, but relaxing slowly, a hand coming to rest gently on her hip as he returned the action.    
   
She was thankful that of all the things to cross galaxies, kissing was similar. She didn't let it last, it would do no good to have rumors flying about Aya about the nature of their relationship. She heard the sound of the nomad's door's opening and pulled away from him, taking a step back as Cora, Peebee, and Jaal jumped down to the entrance of the cave.    
   
It was like the past hour they spent together didn't happen, and Evfra was back to being cranky and angry with everyone. Sara was back to being cheerfully optimistic, greeting her crew with a smile. Evfra snuck a glance at her, Cora and Peebee were discussing something with her, and Jaal was uncharacteristically silent. Evfra glanced over at him, startled to find his eyes on him, narrowed in a confused sort of curiosity that said he knew too much. Jaal glanced at Sara, and then back to him, raising a brow in question.    
   
Evfra's scowl deepened as he set his jaw, folding his arms carefully, mindful of his injuries. Jaal didn't bother hiding his simle, and withing the next few minutes they were headed back to the resistance base. Most of the Resistance members were staring as they strolled through the base, wide eyed and staring at Evfra's injuries. It didn't bother him, they wouldn't ask, but there was no doubt that they could feel something different about him. He was simply thankful the pathfinder couldn't tell, and annoyed that Jaal would be pestering him with questions once the chance was given.    
   
Evfra was needed to share his findings with Do Xeel, and Sara had to get back to her own duties. Walking side by side, he let his hand brush hers for a moment, just a feather light touch and hardly noticeable, but her eyes met his nonetheless. She was back to being sarcastic and smug again, but he saw the brief flicker of feeling cross her face, an air of fondness in her words. "It's been a peach, General. Don't go dying anytime soon without me."    
   
Evfra snorted, shaking his head. "Says the woman who has died three times."    
   
Sara shrugged, her crew staying back at the nomad to call the tempest in for extraction. "I came back, didn't I? Still," she glanced at his shoulder, and for a moment he was glad that her crew wasn't seeing this, an unspoken promise falling between them. "Be careful..." She murmured, her expression unreadable. He nodded silently and then Cora was calling her back to the tempest, it was time to go. 

She waved goodbye and turned, jogging to where the tempest waited outside the base.    
   
Once she was out of sight Evfra let himself relax a bit, alas his moment of peace was chased away by a ping coming from the device on his arm. It would seem Jaal's questioning had begun. He watched as the Tempest took to the air and out of sight, sighing softly.    
Boarding his shuttle back to Aya and forwarding his findings to Commander Do Xeel, he opened the email. It was going to be a long ride back to Resistance HQ.    
   
   
He spent most of the ride ignoring Jaal's questioning and signing off on reports, it seemed paperwork seemed to follow him everywhere. Finally arriving on Aya he made his way to his Headquarters swiftly, only pausing when he saw the Moshae sitting in his office, speaking with one of his assistants.    
The Moshaes eyes immediately went to his arm, in the blink of an eye she was on him, questions rolling off her tongue before Evfra could even breathe.    
   
"Moshae please, I'm fine."    
   
"I knew you shouldn’t have gone alone, I told you! you stubborn, foolish—"   
   
"I was not alone, I was with the Pathfinder."  he growled out, though his usual spite that came with saying her title was not present, giving the Moshae pause. Confusion flickering on her features before the realization hit her. Moshae Sjefa probably knew him better than he knew himself, and she could tell something was different. She raised her brows, her interest piqued.

"were you now..." She glanced at his arm, thankfully silent as he sent his assistant off so they could talk privately.    
   
"those look like defensive wounds." Moshae Sjefa observed quietly, her way of gently prying. Evfra sighed, his tone clearly expressing his disdain for this conversation. "Yes well, it happens."    
   
Her hard gaze told him she was not convinced, her next reply solidifying his assumption. "You protected her."    
   
Evfra remained silent, walking over to his desk and cleaning up the mess of datapads and maps. Moshae Sjefa walked in front of her desk, arms folded. She didn't need an answer to know what was going on, she could feel it; something was off about his bioelectric field, something gentler than the harsh but calm energy he normally had floating about his person.    
   
"You care for her."    
   
Evfra did look up at her this time, still staying silent. Sjefa's expression softened, a smile coming to her lips. "Good. You need to learn to love again."    
   
With that, the Moshae left him to his thoughts.    
   
Evfra scowled, glaring at his desk as if it had offended him personally. This was a mess, he was a mess. Acting on his feelings, like there was any chance they could be together. Yet a little voice in the back of his mind whispered, remembering the way her lips felt against his, absentmindedly running his thumb over his bottom lip; Why couldn't they? There was still a lot of work to do, but he didn't have to be unhappy anymore. The kett were dealt with for now, and there was a chance for peace... why did he have to remain unhappy?    
   
His questions remained unanswered, the silence his only companion.    
   
Another ping came from the device on his arm, an annoyed sigh leaving him. He swore, if this was another email from Jaal pestering him—    
   
_To: Evfra De Tershaav_  
From: Pathfinder Sara Ryder   
   
His mind went blank for a second, re-reading her name again. He shook off his initial shock and continued reading.    
   
_Subject: Dances and Songs_  
   
It may not be to your standards, but Jaal tells me it is not that different from angaran music, so maybe you'll like it. Anyway, thanks for the dance, and other things.    
   
There was a file attached. He tapped on it and the melody that Sara was humming before began playing softly. He listened for a moment, it was not unpleasant, though... he thought it sounded better when Sara sang it. He re read the email, lingering on the last sentence.    
   
Perhaps there was a chance for them after all.

**Author's Note:**

> I was listening to Drops of Jupiter by Train, Kiss Me Slowly by Parachute, and All About Us by He Is We, so imagine any of those songs is the one that Sara was humming if you care to.  
> this was my first time writing Evfra's character in detail, and i hope i portrayed him okay, and im sure i will be more familiar with his character in the future, but i hope you enjoyed this as much as i enjoyed writing it!!


End file.
